Souvenir Stories: Celebrity Chef Danny Meyer's Menus with Meaning

I began collecting menus before I opened Union Square Cafe in New York in 1985, and I now have about a hundred of them. Mainly I wanted to remember the restaurants I’ve fallen in love with. Some of my favorites aren’t around anymore—like Square One, Joyce Goldstein’s influential San Francisco spot. Of course I respond first to the graphics and the quality of the printing, especially from those restaurants that didn’t have constantly changing menus the way we do today. (It wasn’t until the 1960s, after all, that the Four Seasons in Manhattan introduced the idea of the seasonal menu.) But really, for me, menus are part of a larger seduction, one that begins with a reservation. They offer us choice: This is one time where the world is your oyster. We don’t find that moment too often in life.